Video Transcription

Heidi’s Story | Bushfires Support

My name is Heidi, and this is my story. I grew up in Lockheel, living on a small acreage. I live there with my mum now, and it’s really peaceful. Every morning, I kind of sit out on the veranda and just embrace everything of the morning before I think about going into my day and doing everything like that. I think it’s just a part of me, I guess. It’s something that I have to do—just sit there and listen to the peacefulness.

So, the first fire started, and it was about eight kilometers away from us. We kind of just smelt the smoke at home and saw it drifting a little bit. We got the alert on the app, and within an hour, it escalated to an emergency warning. The sun started to turn orange, and we started packing everything up from home. That’s something we’d never planned for. We evacuated into town, and that was one of about four or five evacuations that we did. We got told later on that the fire at Chalk Hills was waiting for the wind to change, and it would have swept right through the gully and right through our place. Everything would have been gone, so we’re really lucky. I don’t know what I would have done if we lost everything because I’ve always lived there, and it’s a property that my parents bought from their parents, so it’s always been in the family.

Usually, my big support is my music, and it always has been. You know, being surrounded by a lot of grief and other forms of just strong events in my life, music has always been there for me. It also connects me a lot to my brother and my dad because they both did music heavily.

Also, just being connected with Headspace in their youth reference group beforehand, I’ve learned a lot of things. It’s just been a really great experience, and I’m glad that I made that connection. Having different experiences has helped me know that what I’m feeling is fine and has allowed me to share that, uplifting other people to reduce the stigma around mental health. Stigma is a big thing.

What gives me hope is that I’ve been through this process before, and now I have more time to prepare. I have connections with Headspace and other agencies and people that I can talk to, helping me get prepared for the new season.

Video by headspace